Petrol, Diesel Prices Continue to Rise After 19-Day Freeze

With the daily price revision of automotive fuels restarting on Monday after a 19-day hiatus due to Karnataka polls, petrol prices reached almost five-year high while diesel prices hit a new all-time high in Delhi.

Petrol and diesel prices were hiked by 15 paise per litre in Delhi and Mumbai, 14 paise per litre in Kolkata and 16 paise per litre in Chennai. A litre of diesel in Delhi will now cost ₹ 66.57, while in Mumbai, one litre of diesel now costs ₹ 70.88 in Mumbai.

At the BPCL outlets, petrol and diesel were priced at Rs. 79.19 and Rs. 71.85 respectively.

The petrol prices are Rs77.79 in Kolkata, Rs82.94 in Mumbai and Rs77.93 in Chennai, respectively. Fuel prices were last hiked 19 days ago, and the substantial hike is likely to pinch commuters across the country.

Monday's change is bound to bring back worries for motorists about further increase in fuel prices in the backdrop of global crude as well as product prices firming up.

Moreover, Brent crude oil settled at $78.43 a barrel, up 20 cents, or 0.3 percent, after reaching an intraday peak of $79.47 a barrel, up $1.24 and its highest since November 2014.

Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia and Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Garg have in the past weeks ruled out any immediate reduction in excise duty to cushion the increases warranted from a spike in worldwide oil price. Also, the rupee has weakened to Rs 67 per USA dollar from Rs 66.62, making imports costlier.